Thanks! I took a long drive through the Redwoods to the coast just north of Jenner, CA with my girlfriend yesterday. It was about 80 degrees outside so we had the top and doors off all day. I really started to second guess my plans. The drive reminded me of why I originally bought a soft top Jeep and not a pickup.

No reason you can't have a soft top Jeep and a pickup. You can even keep the Sunrider feature of the factory soft top:

Hardtop for the snow, soft top for the summer.

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."Whether you think you can do something or you think you can't, you are right" - Henry Ford

Gotta say that's a nice rig, I wouldn't do it. Buy a junker...if not to practice on first anyway.

A few reasons why you should not do that.

1. The final Brute is still going to have the axles, engine, transmission, suspension, interior, frame, etc. etc. as it did when you started unless you are prepared to spend a bunch upgrading it. You want to start with a good clean example, not something that needs a lot of fixing up.

2. Do you really want to "practice" with a more than $10k conversion? You aren't going to do it twice. You either take your time and re-do each step until it's perfect, or entrust it to someone who you know can do it well.

3. When you finish building your Brute... you're probably not going to get much use out of that nice standard TJ because you'll take your Brute out every time.

4. Maybe it makes more sense to build the Brute and buy a junker for tougher trails that you'd be worried about with the Brute's wheelbase / departure / expensive bodywork.

I haven't completely decided against the Brute build just yet. It really is a tough and expensive call.

Not to discourage you - but don't forget to budget for labour, paint, and for random things like longer driveshafts etc... and be very careful to avoid letting it snowball. I think I've spent as much as the Brute kit again just on parts because "While it's in pieces we might as well do this..."- so avoid that trap if you're working on a budget in mind.

My build is still underway - taking a long time because of the amount of custom work done at the same time.

Not to discourage you - but don't forget to budget for labour, paint, and for random things like longer driveshafts etc... and be very careful to avoid letting it snowball. I think I've spent as much as the Brute kit again just on parts because "While it's in pieces we might as well do this..."- so avoid that trap if you're working on a budget in mind.